Scuba Dive Buddies — George Landgrabe

Scuba Dive Buddies

Over the years I have had a number of Dive Buddies. Hopefully from my experience it may help you select one that gives you a rewarding long-term relationship and many years of exciting diving.

When I first started out there were no specific dive shops, the only local place in Cleveland, Ohio to purchase a limited amount of dive equipment was a sporting goods store. It had the name of Newman Sterns and later I learned that the actor, Paul Newman, was briefly a clerk at his father’s store.

Anyway, after purchasing my tank, regulator, weight belt, depth gauge and knife I inquired as to where I was supposed to gain some education in the proper use of the Aqua Lung. The clerk informed me of a start-up diving club, The Cleveland Skin Divers, that held their meetings at the local aquarium. Shortly after I contacted the aquarium and gained the information about when they held their meetings.

I eventually attended a meeting and asked if anyone could assist me in the proper use of my recent purchase. I was assigned a member, by the name of Don, who met me at a local pool where I went through the basics of learning the equipment. This consisted of dumping it down at the deep end of the pool and going down, putting it all on and surfacing. It was really easy seeing I was already on the swim team at a local college and at home in the water.

This short test was a prerequisite for being accepted into the club and seeing Don witnessed my passing he was assigned to me on my first open water dive in Lake Erie.

All went well on that initial dive and Don and I hit it off to the point that we remained buddies after that on most of the club dives. After about a year of diving together we learned that a 30-foot fishing boat was up for sale and had the idea about going together to purchase it for the purpose of setting up a business of taking divers out.

Well, being in college, I really didn’t have much money to invest in a boat so I consulted with my father to see if he would advance me the funds. He was receptive but gave me some personal advice about getting into a partnership. When he was in the Boy Scouts another scout and he went together on a pup tent. When they were getting out of the scouts they were arguing back and forth as to who would get the tent. My farther said it lasted so long that he finally took out his scout knife and split the tent right down the middle and gave half to the other scout.

Well with that in mind, I got into the partnership with Don. All went well for a while until we got together at the boat one day to discuss how we were going to remodel it for diving. We needed a place to store tanks, life vests, personal gear and of course a dive platform out back with a ladder to come back on board. Well, to make a long story short, Don had his ideas and I had mine to the extent that he bought me out and went on his way. From that time on he never did convert the boat and also left the club. Sometimes fathers really do know best.

Enter Victor, a couple of years younger than me who was looking for guidance just as I was earlier. We had similar likes and dislikes and he was a very good diver. Victor and I dove together for another 20 years until my company moved me to Florida.

Victor and Me

He would occasionally come down to visit and we would dive locally or I would go up to Cleveland. On occasion, we would even meet at a third location such as recovering an artifact from a sunken vessel.

In those 20 years I met a number of other divers either in the club or while I was teaching at the YMCA. Another diver by the name of Dave asked if I wanted to go with him up to the Georgian Bay in Canada to dive a number of the wrecks there. Being a wreck diver, I jumped at the chance. Dave had a 20 ft boat, a portable compressor and was willing to tow the boat with his car. Now how could I pass up a deal like that?

We spent a week diving in very cold water but visited about 10 wrecks that dated back to the mid-1800s.

Now I didn't meet Dave and agree to the trip, I had dived with him a number a times when Vic was not available. This is something you just don't do with a buddy you just met. You have to realize that you are putting your life in the hands of the person you have chosen to go underwater with. If they don't feel comfortable with murky water or cold water or sticking their head into a wreck, then you don't chance them getting you out of trouble.

There were even a couple of divers where I worked that came to me and wanted to buddy with me. I would invite them along when Vic and I were going somewhere that allowed the four of us to learn each others habits both on the surface and underwater.

Paul, Victor and Chester

Such it was with Paul and Chester who filled out a foursome on a dive off Dunkirk, NY. Our intentions were to dive the deepest part of Lake Erie which was 210 feet but were distracted when someone told us there was a wreck in the area. We visited a wreck and brought up some trinkets that we probably later threw away. Later on we took them to the coin pile off Buffalo, NY for a more rewarding dive.

When the Cleveland Skin Diver's Club disbanded another club was formed on the East Side of Cleveland by the name of the Aqua Amigos. After I moved down to Florida Victor became a member of the new club and began to dive regularly with two of their members, Walt and John. The first time I had the pleasure diving with his new acquaintances was when I was invited to join them in North Carolina for a dive on the Graveyard of ships that litter the Atlantic off Cape Hatteras. After spending a week there, it wet our appetite to dive more historical wrecks.

Following this encounter the four of us talked of the dream trip to Truk Lagoon which is part of Micronesia in the Pacific. This is where, in 1944, the United States sunk over 60 Japanese supply ships and they were waiting on the bottom for our viewing. Seeing it was over 9,000 miles from where we would begin our journey, we decided that a two week stay would be the best way to get the most out of the diving as possible. Due to the cost of a two-week excursion to Truk, we saved for three years in order to make it happen. We wanted Victor to join us on the trip however his work schedule would not allow him to take that much time off.

With the Island Divers in Truk

As I had mentioned in past blogs and in my book, the trip was the most enjoyable one the three of us had ever made. If anyone asks me what was the best dive I have ever been on, I always say Truk Lagoon.

George & Gary Somewhere in the Caribbean

Of course, in recent years, my most important and reliable buddy has been my son Gary. He started diving with me when he was 13 years old. As he puts it, I took care of him when he was starting out and he now takes care of me today. I hate to admit it but he's right in that at 85 it takes me a little longer to get in the water.

Away Dives

Now just how do you select a dive buddy when traveling be yourself? I have traveled alone to the Red Sea, Maldives, Yap, Palau, Cozumel, Hawaii, Australia and California. First of all, if you are joining a group of divers at a resort or on a live aboard, you should be among other divers that hopefully have a fair amount of diving experience otherwise they probably wouldn't be spending the money to travel to these locations, but don't count on it.

Usually what I do is engage in various conversations with the other guests the night before diving begins. Find out where they're from, how long they have been diving and what other locations they have dived. Some people will travel with a buddy while others will be alone such as yourself. These conversations will narrow down the field of who you might want to dive with.

Get Into Conversations With Other Divers

Now let me stop right here and recognize that you may be the novice diver. In this case you are looking for a buddy that has a good amount of experience and would be an ideal match to dive with to learn from their experience. On most dive outings the dive guide will buddy with a diver that may feel more comfortable with them along until they get used to the surroundings.

During these pre-dive conversations you may ask if you could tag along with a person or persons on the first dive. Buddy diving is not only one on one but can be three or even four divers together. Just keep the distance close up for safety.

The other information you should gather on those pre-dive conversations is just what the other diver’s interests are while diving. They may be a photographer, small or large animal enthusiast or be interested in the different types of coral. The reason for learning the other diver’s reasons for diving is if you buddy up with them, common interests can be a benefit in that you will tend to stay together more by pointing out the various things that interest you both.

Nowhere is this more important than in photography. If you are a photographer and pair up with a non- photographer, you may find your buddy continuing on while you try to accomplish that perfect shot, whereas if you are both interested in photography, you will tend to share your finds with each other.

Seeing I do engage in photography, I will usually gravitate towards other like interest divers as buddies however, their search for subject matter may even differ from yours in that they may want to only shoot macro or close-up shots and have their camera set up for that type of shooting whereas you have a wide angle lens on your camera which does not lend itself to macro so this has to be agreed on before hand.

One of the benefits of diving with another photographer is because you were both together on most dives, you can share photos each of you had taken on the trip once you return home. While in Palau, I spent most of the time with a diver from Germany. Upon returning home we exchanged our pictures by sending a disk to each other.

German Diver in Palau

In addition to your compatibility underwater it is important that you and your buddy look after each other in the pre-dive portion of gear check out. You both should be aware if the other has their equipment on correctly with no straps or hoses trapped where they will be hard to acquire during the dive. A fast visual going over will eliminate problems under the surface.

All in all, the selection of a dive buddy is not always an easy decision, but keep in mind you both have a common interest which is diving. How your individual personalities mesh is another factor and will have to be worked on but this is only important on the surface. Once you get underwater it's pretty tough to argue about the small stuff as long as you both are competent in your chosen sport.

George